Page 55 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

These people suck.

The deepness of my sigh portrays their suckiness in surround sound, I’m sure. “Xios, go get my laptop. Castor, have you had dinner?”

Castor’s smile mutes as his lips part. “I…” He swallows, wets his lips. “No, Razah, I haven’t.”

I catch Alexios’s soft smile as he locks his arms behind his back and meanders out of the kitchen. Firmly ignoring it, I ask, “How do you like your eggs, or are you also a problem?”

He frees a gentle laugh. “Could I…perhaps…trouble you for an omelet?”

“Fancy tastes. All right, mister. Toppings.” I pop open my fridge. “I’ve got onions, baby spin…no, wait, that actually no longer looks edible. Um. Cheese. I have like fifteen different kinds of cheese, and, yes, thatisan exaggeration.” Cocking my hip against the door, I throw a look back at myunwantedguest. “Swiss, cheddar, colby, pepper jack. Turkey bacon and chicken. Onions. And, don’t tell Xios, mushrooms.”

“Swiss, chicken, and mushroom?”

Alexios reenters the kitchen with my laptop, and the smile he was wearing when he left vanishes. “What was that aboutmushrooms?”

“Absolutely nothing.” I get a can from the pantry after pulling out a carton of farm-fresh eggs I got from my neighbors. “How many eggs, Castor?”

Not gonna lie, I did not expect him to sayten.

Chapter 14

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Is he reallythe bad guy?

“Eyes,” Castor says, and I cover baby’s—even though he’s asleep—then close mine so Castor can open his and look at my laptop screen. “Oooh.”

Alexios snickers.

“Ahh,” Castor adds.

I press my lips together, because it’s not funny now, and it wasn’t funny the last fifteen times either.

It may, however, be funny thenexttime, because—I hate to admit it—but he is wearing me down.

“Okay,” he practically chirps, and I open my eyes on the black phone case with a white line art of a snake. It is holding a rose. In its mouth. “Yes. I think I want this one. It’s lovely.”

I smile and snuggle into my couch between Castor and Alexios. In a lot of ways, I should hate everything about this. But I don’t. Even though I’m sandwiched between two men I don’t know all that well, I’m…eerily calm.

Probably because of my baby. Dipping, I touch a quick kiss to Ash’s head where he’s sleeping against my chest in his baby wrap. Shortly after I perceived the horror that was Castor nearly swallowing an entire ten-egg omelet whole, my little boy woke up, so I broke out his bottle, then cozied him up in his little wrap.

I am convinced it is the best invention that has ever been made.

“So, we’ve got the phone, and we’ve got the case and screen protectors. Xios, are you sure we have enough protein shake options?” I ask as I open my cart and begin scrolling down a list of several different brands across many different flavors.

Shoulder brushing mine, Alexios shudders. “Nauseated atthe concept already, snowflake.”

“They’re great. Like milkshakes.”

“I’ve never had a milkshake.”

“I am convinced Pollux only fed you organic quinoa.”

Proving my point, Alexios’s expression contorts, and he cusses, “—food glitter…”

It’s Castor’s turn to chuckle, and it’s incredibly surreal having him here, like this, while my heart rate maintains decent speeds. He’s, graciously,notpressed shoulder-to-shoulder with me, but he is still sitting pretty close. And he is still a male stranger. And, oh yeah, he identifies as avillain.

I simply should not be this chill, all things considered.

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